Wait what is happening? The temperature went from blizzard conditions last week to high 50s and low 60s this week. It's been pretty nice out, so we busted out the grill and baseball equipment and enjoyed some great days outdoors. Isaac got lots of cool training baseball things for Christmas, so now that it was finally nice enough to try it out, Jerm and kids headed to the backyard. One hit toward the house and I kicked them out and made them head to the actual baseball field. I don't need to replace any windows in the house! It was nice to look out and seeing everyone outdoors.
Tuesday night we all did a fun thing- we all got tested for COVID at Rite Aid in town. Not that we thought we had it, but wanted to have tests that proved negative for all of us. The kids did great. Even the pharmacist complimented how great they did. By Thursday we got all our results back of negative. Yippee.
Wednesday was a big day. It was Honors Day at ONU, so we didn't have classes, but I had some things to do on campus. So even though I usually don't go into campus on Wednesdays, I did today. I had a small part to read the script for the inductees of Beta Gamma Sigma, the Business Honorary as the adviser of the group. After the inductions we also had an adviser meeting and a AOL/Curriculum meeting, so I made a day of it.
I also had a hair appointment and my dear friend Jane was also getting her hair done during the same time. I was so nice catching up with her. Pre-COVID we tried to have lunch every few months. I haven't got to visit with Jane since last year! It was time for us to find out what each other was doing. I also got about 4 inches chopped off. My hair was all broken off and in really bad shape. So Lisa was able to cut off the ends, but leave it long enough to do something amazing with it.
Friday was memorable for a bad reason. I broke my Apple watch. If you know me well, you know how much I like tracking my workouts and closing my rings. I was super upset and put a picture of my watch up on Facebook with and RIP letter. Well it wasn't up there but 30 minutes and my cousin contacted me with an offer to buy hers. She doesn't use it and said she'd sell it to me. YES! I'm excited to get back to my obsession of closing the rings and working out non-stop.
After the past few weekends, we 100% needed a chill weekend. Olivia did color this cute Klondike color page for his birthday at ONU. She submitted it to ONU for a chance to win a prize.
This week found us on our own. Maw and Paw (who live just a few miles away) were away on vacation. While they were gone enjoying sunshine, we were scraping all this snow and ice off of...well everything! We also volunteered to go check on the house and see if they got any packages while they were out of town. One night after swim, we crashed their house and took some pictures. Olivia is acting like Paw and Isaac like Maw. Then they both stole ice cream out of the freezer. LOL. Then we sent the pictures to the homeowners and turned ourselves in. 😂
Wednesday is typically my work remote day. Today a builder finally returned and followed up with the addition we are trying to get done for our backyard. We have been searching for someone to come put up a storage/bathroom and outdoor entertainment area for about three years now. We have been given plans by first guy, second guy came and said he couldn't fit us in, and third guy ghosted us. We are on the fourth builder. He came with a plumber this week to see about running the bathroom pipes to the tap. This required someone coming out and marking where everything is. Good news- nothing in the way of putting it in. Bad news, our tap is outside the front of our house or across the street. Neither is an affordable option to justify a bathroom. Waiting for the estimate now to see if we can move forward. With COVID, the cost of everything is three times as much as it was when the first guy came out. Stinks!
The weekend was packed. I mean chucked full of action. Started on Friday night with a drive to my parents house. We got there late, but the morning started early with waking up to watch Olivia swim at her first Champs. Apparently it's all different this year because of COVID. The 8 and under's went this weekend by themselves at Putnam County. Girls went in the morning and guys in the afternoon. Olivia had to be in Ottawa at 7:30 a.m. and she does mornings about as good as her momma. LOL. However because they were so young, they were allowed to choose one parent to take with them. Since Jerm swam in high school and knows more about the sport, Olivia chose him as her plus one. She did amazing. I mean, we were impressed. Of the six events she was in, four were just her and two were relays. She placed 2nd in the breaststroke with like 50 competitors and 5th in the 25 free with like 62 competitors. Her butterfly would have been better most likely, but there was a mix up and she ended up in the first (slowest) heat instead of the last (fastest heat). She literarily beat her competition in the first heat by 30+ seconds. She was out of the pool and drying off at the other end when the others finished. So had she swam against those who would have pushed her, I think she would have done better. It took her all but 30 seconds to fall asleep this night. She had worn herself out for sure!
After we watched her kick booty, my dad wanted to get his walk in. It was mid-50s, which felt like spring after all the weather last week so Isaac jumped on his electric scooter and I put my running shoes on to take a nice 3-mile jog. Nothing is better than the smell of fresh air and the skinny backroads that you need to get in the ditch when a car comes. Dad just had shoulder surgery this past Wednesday so he needed some help with carrying some things and lifting some things around the house. Because the ancient old downstairs tv went out (it's like 15-17 years old people!) they got a new one and also needed some help programing it with Netflix, Prime, Disney+ so I got to help with that stuff too. I so loved every minute visiting and even snuck in a trip over to meet Megan and Ben's new little Coy!
Sunday we were back home and going out to lunch for Paw's birthday. Since they had returned from vacation on Thursday, we wanted to be sure to see them before another week got busy. We met them at Texas Roadhouse for lunch to make sure he got sang to "This is your birthday song....it isn't very long 🎶🎵🎶🎵 See ya!" Isaac loves embarrassing Paw, so this was right down his ally! Paw turned 72 this year! Still just a young pup 🎉🎂
Nope. Not happening. What you ask? Keeping up with this blog. Here it is time to write the Week 9 Recap and I'm just now getting to writing Week 8. Well let me tell you why in bullet point form why I got so behind on these.
Snow
Snow storm
Blizzard
Kids had no school
I had no school
Ice
Snow
Level 3 Snow Emergency
Ok, I think you get the point. We had snow and then some more this week. Started off with President's Day on Monday- so NO SCHOOL for my kiddos. Oh, wait for it, you'll see a pattern. I ended up working from home on Monday so I didn't need anyone to stay home with them.
Started predicting snow on Monday to hit throughout the night and into Tuesday. So much so, I emailed all my classes on Tuesday and moved them remote. Well when I woke up Tuesday morning to my kiddos had NO SCHOOL. I also had an email from the provost encouraging us to cancel classes at ONU as well. Don't have to ask me twice! I have some good pictures and videos of this epic snow. It was at least 6 feet in some places where it was plowed over on the side and at least 3 feet as you can see from drifting in the front yard.
So Wednesday the snow got plowed off the road enough to send those kiddos back to school. But I still have NO SCHOOL on Wednesdays because I don't teach, so I work from home. I have done this since I started, as the began as dissertation days, but now have morphed to get everything done on Wednesday-day. Olivia decided it was a good day to make cut-out cookies when she got home because guess what?! They're calling for more snow. What could be more appropriate than polar bears!
Thursday brought more snow as promised, so NO SCHOOL again for my kiddos. But because we are out of calamity days at Elida, my kiddos needed to do work remotely. Flashbacks to COVID spring started to emerge. Olivia might have even mentioned the need to bring up the chalkboard. No thank you. Yet, today was our mental health day at ONU...so NO SCHOOL for mommy! So guess what, now I had a day off to teach my own kiddos. Nice how that worked out hey?! So I decided since the snow was beautiful today to do something I have wanted to do for years. Get my wedding dress out of the box, let it be way too big on Olivia, dress her up like a princess and take pictures. Here were some of my favorites.
Now, while we are all dressed up, I tell Isaac I want to get him in on the action. So in their winter coats, scarfs and hats, we attempted to take some outdoor snow pictures. Now I don't want to waste your time reading for hours of how we had to do this twice because Isaac couldn't keep his eyes open. No seriously. I'm going to post a tiny fraction of this child and his eye debacle. I tried everything and after the second time of trying to capture just one picture, I finally threw in the towel and said we're done.
Another fun thing we did on Thursday is pick up the Dorsey kiddos and drag them along with us to the reservoir to sled. Well because I forgot that Jeremy had our sleds in the back of his truck, it's a good thing that their friends were willing to come along and share their sleds. We only stayed for about an hour, but it was so cold that I think that was enough time to not feel their fingers and toes, thus time to head home.
Friday---alleluia everyone went to school. Yep, I went to ONU and kids went back too. Refreshing.
Saturday brought about our last home swim meet before championships. Isaac did pretty well but didn't understand how he could get last in the fast heat and still place in the top three. Because they combine age categories, he was doing great and winning his age category, but losing to teammates older than him. I love this picture of him talking to Jerm about his swims. It melts my heart that my kiddos love sports as much as Jerm and I did. It's fun to watch them care so deeply about the team and their events.
PS- I can drive myself MAD with the picture placement in this blog. It sucks. No the program truly sucks and doesn't allow them to be nice. I really need to find a new blogging platform!
